The building is located in the centre of the city of Mainz. The façade looks towards a historical pedestrian square and towards the milestone of the city, the Mainzer Dom (Mainz Cathedral), built in the X century. Alongside there is a shopping centre, built in 1970.

Like many other European city centres, this important location has been compromised by thoughtless projects dating back to the mid-20th-century and post-war reparation work. Nothing is authentic (even the historical buildings are almost all reconstructed). Nevertheless, the principle of conservation prevailed, so the city centre has become an eclectic mix, synonym for beauty.

“The most important issue for me was to create a building with a sense of history, but with no rhetoric. I did not want to design a new old building” – Architect Fuksas said.

To restore the façade looking the market square – as requested – it’s been used the downward sloping roof design, typical of the region; but it’s been added a new startling feature, too: the external layer.

This white laminated ceramic skin envelops almost the whole structure, with an irregular pattern of windows and openings, but leaving the old façade on the front section free and visible, where the cafeteria is located, and also providing another striking feature at the rear, where the offices are located.

The interior of the Mainz construction is extremely vertical. As you get into it, you walk through the full-height five-storey lobby, a small vertical square linking together the different functions.

Long and white columns draw your eyes upwards and create a visible bond between the different levels. This open space helps create a connection between the site and surrounding pedestrian area, composed of a set of small interconnected squares leading towards the River Rhine.

The top-floor apartments all have balconies and terraces overlooking the city and the Cathedral.

The existing “historical” facade and its new facade to the Rebstockplatz compose the entrances to a half-closed inner courtyard, a weather-protected “Piazzetta”. This was designed as a half-open, spatially graduated free space, which extends from the underground level over the ground level and the third level, including terraces and access levels for the offices and residences, up to the glass roof.

The “Piazzetta” becomes a place of communication between the individual functions of the building. This connection is strengthened by the verticality of the white columns, shaped sculptures that direct the view of the visitor upwards and create a visible connection between the levels.

All areas in the ground floor, including trade and service, are accessible to pedestrians from the atrium space as well as from the streets. An escalator in the atrium brings you into the underground level with its shops.

Studio Fuksas, led by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, is one of the most outstanding international architectural firm in the world.

Over the past 40 years the company has developed an innovative approach through a strikingly wide variety of projects, ranging from urban interventions to airports, from museums to cultural centers and spaces for music, from convention centers to offices, from interiors to design collections.

With headquarters in Rome, Paris and Shenzhen, and a staff of 170 professionals, the practice has completed more than 600 projects and has worked in Europe, Africa, America, Asia and Australia, receiving numerous international awards.

MVRDV have designed Paradise City, a 9,800m2 entertainment plaza which sits within a larger tourist hub just 10 minutes from Incheon Airport in Seoul. Two buildings shape a retail complex and a nightclub within fluid, yet monolithic, forms. Each of the buildings takes its profile from its surrounding family, becoming a concrete casting of the facades that look onto them. The square, marked by a giant golden spot, becomes a beacon to those flying into the city. The project is being undertaken in partnership with Gansam Architects who also designed the wider masterplan of the complex. Construction is envisaged to begin in September 2016 and to be completed by 2018.

MVRDV’s Paradise City, a dual structured entertainment facility, sits as the centre piece of a new tourist hub in Seoul, South Korea. The sibling buildings, the Sandbox and Nightclub, share an architectural language; both becoming an echo of their family, the immediate surrounding buildings. A golden spot floating over the building and the plaza in front boldly marks the Nightclub entrance; a blast of light before the contrasting dark interior. The concrete monolithic forms have no visible windows to the outside world, concealing an introverted shopping centre and nightclub; segments of façade rotate open in their place. The question how to design an interesting façade whilst only offering glimpses into the building was solved by echoing the surroundings and then manipulate them further. Whilst maintaining their mystery, these structures connect to the urban plan, lifting up at points like a draping curtain, opening up to visitors. As a result, the massive concrete forms distort, suddenly taking on a more fluid aesthetic and becoming softly creased.

“The project takes two simple volumes, which create a new urban space. These masses then take an imprint of the facades around the site, stretching over the two buildings. Thus adapting themselves to the given environment, accepting these conditions as a sine qua non,” explains MVRDV co-founder Winy Maas. “The buildings are opened by lifting them like a curtain, unravelling their interior. Then, to top it off is the golden spot, marking the entrance like a sunbeam, making its presence known even from the air and the landing planes at Incheon airport.”

The 3.600m2 Sandbox, a retail complex, sweeps around to connect to the casino and offers direct access to visitors. Whilst the Nightclub of 6.200m2 sits adjacent to it, maintaining its rectilinear position, and hosts not only a nightclub but also a water club and sky-garden on the upper floor. Party goers are led into the structure up a golden tribune, with an integrated ramp, from the drop-off area and through the centre of the sun spot where the gold wall is lifted, creating an opening through which to enter. Paradise City provides the spectacle that entertainment architecture calls for, yet at the same time balances it with a certain calm simplicity.

The urban platform of Paradise City is raised, sitting above service spaces and an underground carpark. Glass flooring in both the Nightclub and Sandbox reveal the inner-workings of the site, the exits and entries of a site which is in a constant state of transition.

At just a 10 minute walk from Incheon airport, the new complex comprises of four main zones; a hotel with a casino and convention facilities; the Plaza, with a boutique hotel, food-court, retail space and galleries; a spa; and the Entertainment Square, with retail spaces and a nightclub. The complex, which will be completed in time for the 2018 winter Olympic games, is purposed for tourists to the city and will have a direct mono-rail link to the airport. The project has already attracted big names in Korea’s social scene, with actor Kim Soo-hyun now the ambassador of the Paradise City development.

Paradise City was undertaken in close collaboration with co-architect Gansam Architects & Partners, who also designed the masterplan for the project, as well as VS-A who contributed towards the facades and materials of the buildings. The 33 hectare masterplan has already begun construction and MVRDV’s Paradise City is envisioned to break ground in around three months’ time.

MVRDVwas set up in 1993 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. MVRDV engages globally in providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues. A research based and highly collaborative design method engages experts from all fields, clients and stakeholders in the creative process. The results are exemplary and outspoken buildings, urban plans, studies and objects, which enable our cities and landscapes to develop towards a better future.

Early projects by the office, such as the headquarters for the Dutch Public Broadcaster VPRO and WoZoCo housing for the elderly in Amsterdam lead to international acclaim. MVRDV develops its work in a conceptual way in which the changing conditions are visualised and discussed through designs, sometimes literally through the design and construction of a diagram. The office continues to pursue its fascination for and methodical research on density using a method of shaping space using the complex amounts of data that accompany contemporary building and design processes.The work of MVRDV is exhibited and published worldwide and has received numerous international awards. 140 architects, designers and other staff develop projects in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative design process which involves rigorous technical and creative investigation.

Fornebuporten is one of the office and residential clusters that, in the last two decades, popped up in the land of what once was Oslo’s airport. The site, at the entrance to the Fornebu peninsula, is a gateway to this blooming new district.

Two volumes confine a public plaza which central element is a lowered atrium. Here a variety of retail programs is available not only to the 3000 people working at Fornebuporten but also to all the commuters that will use daily the future Fornebuporten metro station. The building mass surrounding the atrium connects the two building on the basement level. This is where some of the common functions are located such as car and bike parking, changing rooms, kitchen and technical facilities.

The two identical buildings, overlooking the central atrium from opposite sides, are composed by five volumes with the same width but different heights sitting on a glazed base. This gives the impression that the building is floating over the plaza due to contrast of the base’s lightness with the bulkiness of the office volumes. These volumes cantilever outwards, alternately towards East or West, optimizing this way the daylight intake. Maximizing the daylight areas enables to increase the density of the building. Each floor is planned to host between 250 to 300 permanent working spaces. Drawing visual references from the offshore industry, the 20 meter cantilevers rest on a central core resembling an oil rig. This resemblance symbolically points out the ambition behind the project: Fornebuporten should be a magnet for knowledge-based enterprises and oil and offshore intelligence.

The ground floor is designed to be a welcoming and transparent space, with a continuous curtain wall from floor to ceiling. The office volumes seem to hover over the public ground floor restaurants, coffee shops and cafeterias. The underside of the “hovering” volumes is a playful checkers cladding – the result of the folding of the building’s facades under the cantilevers.

Fornebuporten is strategically placed around Fornebu’s future metro station. This stimulates a more ecologically aware way of commuting, a priority to the norwegian political sphere and society in general.

Openness to the public is also a fundamental side of the Fornebuporten complex. A big part of the project is open to the public realm: the plaza sprinkled with sculptures, gardens and urban furniture; the inviting cafés, bakeries and restaurants in the transparent ground floor or the retail spaces and gym around the central atrium. This openness breaks up with the traditional definition of office building by creating a synergy between the city and the office cluster. Contributing to the establishment of Fornebu as a city district, with new public spaces and facilities, improves both the quality of life of its inhabitants and makes those who daily work at Fornebuporten more integrated with the city itself.

“Their houses are massive but light and not forceful and scholar. They are not humorous but spreading serenity. … We can openly turn to these buildings and we can bite of them as much as we want, our eyes can eat a lot and appetite of our imagination comes as well.”[i]

Buildings, where architectural problems are particularly stylistic ones, can be considered as special examples. The recently completed new building of HungaroControl Zrt. is a building of such kind: an addition that sensitively and innovatively continues the previous phase, a house which organically fits in the creative oeuvre but at the same time becomes a unique experiment in a sense, since the way it uses a well-known material, ceramics is remarkable even in international context.

In 2004, the air control center of the Hungarian airport was placed in an exemplary building. On one hand the building of ANS II designed by Tamás Nagy applied a familiar office typology with setting up a system consisting of central corridor office wings repeated at right angle to the longitudinal bulk and the courts in between them. On the other hand the facade is clad by rustic brick tile, a material quite typical of the architect, being adjusted to his oeuvre that represents a determinant chapter in Hungarian contemporary brick architecture. Thirdly, he made the building unique with poetic, innovative tools: by using his experiment results he created glass lamellas decorated with magnified, colored bird feather patterns as a reference to aviation. The layout established an open system: the rhythm of the cross wings created a continuable structure, a kind of regularity.

The stake of the design competition organized in 2007 for the extension of the building complex of ANS II was primarily the matter of defining the relationship with the building of Tamás Nagy. The participants of the competition tried either to continue or to counterpoint the original building to be extended: while the first ones were encumbered by the differing functional programs, latter attempts were hindered by the open layout and the strong statement of the existing house. The design of Zsolt Zsuffa and László Kalmár continued the scenario of Tamás Nagy in a way that made them able to fit this significantly different spatial program into the system determined by the previous building to be extended. Three new wings were added to the existing three blocks in a way where the last two ones – except their uppermost story – were built together: giving place to spaces with large floor area and high headroom like the air traffic control hall.

“The surroundings do not require any new architectural character, preferably the existing one needs to be reinforced.” – drew up the architects in the technical description of the competition plan. Instead of brick facade cladding, the architects applied a ceramic lamella system installed on a separated load bearing structure as a secondary skin. This solution – according to their plans – took over the main characteristic of Tamás Nagy’s building, namely the architectural use of burnt clay and at the same time radically reinterpreted it: the familiar connotations of brick, its massiveness, sensuality and the handcraft was replaced by the lightness, sterility and industrial style of lamellas. The relevant distance between the grey plastered wall, which can be considered as the real facade, and the ceramic shades nearly resulted in the “house in a house” effect. Associating this with the Faraday cage effect might not lead too far, it essentially means to enclose the space to be protected with metal mesh in order to shield it against exterior electromagnetic influence. Naturally, here the facade has no similar functions but at the same time – just like the allusions of the ANS II’s glass feathers – it can give meaning to such a building where the function itself is actually neutral, the technology of air traffic control is strictly regulated and a neutral space structure derives from the applied office typology.

At the turn of the 90ies and the years of 2000, the great interest arising amongst Hungarian architects towards brick architecture originated not only from the rediscovery of the building works’ handcraft aspects after the regime change but it also became an important literary element of regional thinking. An important introduction of this idea was the curatorial concept of Miklós Sulyok at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2002 where he presented the so called regionalist architectural attitude by means of focusing on the brick architecture of István Ferencz, Tamás Nagy and Gábor Turányi.

By now, the brick architecture of Tamás Nagy has become one of the most consistent and literary coherent Hungarian oeuvre. Beside the statuesque-organic attempts, also the ornamental possibilities hidden in modular arrangement and in the use of brick as a grille, an openwork surface, nearly pushing the envelope of the brick’s materiality, have led to exciting solutions. In case of the ANS II building brick appears primarily with its nature and character as cladding material, in compliance with the planar style of the facade design; and contrary to the previous examples here not its massiveness but its surface character becomes dominant. On this house brick is not a fundamental building element anymore but – beside the evident engagement of the architect – much more a solution for counterpointing the glass structure facades on the surface as much as possible.

The strong structure of ANS II representing the possibility of continuation and the distinctive use of materials created a special situation regarding the extension. Beyond giving an obvious answer, which conceivably could have been the continuation – cloning - of the original brick architecture, an exciting occasion offered the innovative reinterpretation – mutation - of both the settlement and layout structure and of the architectural appearance and meaning. The architects of ANS III have clearly chosen the latter strategy.

Due to the strong aura of the extended house created by the use of materials, all kind of strategies based on only a small-scale reinterpretation of brick and glass structures would presumably have weakened the independent and mutual power and stance of the two buildings. However, here we can see a transcription, since – beyond material and color – the ceramic lamellas can be compared to the lightness and transparency of the glass structures of ANS II, they continue the abstraction of its brick grid appearing on the gable and fence walls and last – but not least – express the different characters of the function behind. The lamella skin of the new building is well differentiated too: it seems massive nearly like a wall structure but behaves like a transparent, translucent membrane at the same time. Placing the rustic surfaced small brick and the perfect, precise ceramic lamellas next to each other results in a productive stress as we can see radically different usages of the same material.

In many works of Zsuffa and Kalmár that modernist facade design tradition can be traced which is based on the distinction between solid and transparent sections placed between the slabs, in this way using the slab edges as dominant organizing elements of the facades. This concept prevails partly in case of the city hall of Budaörs from 2005, the library design competition in Pécs from 2007, many detached houses, later, in 2010 on the elevation of the beauty-shop of Hévíz and in case of many other words. The tool of projecting slab edges to the facade establishes a certain design rule that enables the realization of wide range of architectural experiments. In the sequence of the architects’ works slabs separated mainly solid (stone or brick clad) and transparent surfaces. In case of the beauty-shop solely one story high glass planes were stretched between the slabs the edge of which were connected by tight-rope steel wire according to the plans, in this way providing support structure for an intense green facade.

This exciting story of architectural genesis is completed by the new building of ANS III too, where the facade itself – a new development compared to the previous ones – sat on the edge of the protruded slabs has became a totally independent element. Several aims and consequences resulted from this – already well studied and experienced – solution. On one hand – just like in other previous works of the architects – it appears as an organizing principle between solid and opened surfaces. It works as a cantilever supporting the transparent facade membrane in front of the glass surfaces behind the lamellas, similarly to the building in Hévíz: the thing which is a green facade there, here becomes ceramic lamella. The ceramic grille’s surface-like effect dominates at places where lamellas do not run in front of the glass surfaces and large sized openings are placed into these surfaces. Since ceramic cage, longing for independence and covering the building, is divided by the slabs on each floor, they connect it to the interior space articulation of the building. The search for homogeneity, which was realized by the repetition of ceramic elements with small section would make the observer uncertain about the size and scale of the building. But beside the openings stretched between the slabs, the recognizable slab edges give a well known, identifiable (story high) scale to the house.

The most important – though at the same time most abstract – architectural development of this building lays in the architectural effect and meaning of ceramic lamellas, which solution is not without antecedents.

On one hand the use of lamellas provides a sculpturesque/object-like interpretation since seeing from different view points, the recognized massiveness of surfaces is changing too and leads to the differentiation of surfaces. However, the lamella system is completely homogeneous and undifferentiated at the same time, this way presenting a surface-like impression too. A good example of the former case can be the Central Signal Box building of Herzog and de Meuron from 1999, where – covering the simple mass – the statuesqueness of metal cladding and its transition between solid and openwork surfaces strengthens primarily the form itself and its mass-like character, and results in an unusual, dematerializing impact. At the same time, Renzo Piano’s buildings (Daimler building in Potsdamer Platz, Berlin at the turn of 2000 or the New York Times headquarter building from 2007) and their ceramic facades are approaching from the surface, since they use lamellas in their solid and open nature too in this way they project the facade behind them to the surface.

Transparent skin or mass with structured surface: these two features are present on the building at the same time. The dilemma of the design is the matter of openings: in case of spaces of typically circulation function (where shaded facade may be allowed) the lamellas run in front of the windows, but at offices with permanent working environment the ceramic shades, otherwise consistently placed everywhere around the building, are stopped. These large openings are framed with concrete rim in terracotta color, further strengthening the surface-like character of the facade skin, and in this surface windows are articulated either as openings from a “curtain” drawn aside or cut out by using elements of a certain depth.

Besides the dematerialization of mass and surface, in this case ceramic lamellas mean a radical brick facade transformation too. The facade elements refer to the building of ANS II only in their material and color; all the other connotations offer drastically different interpretations. The ceramic elements are manufactured by the German company NBK, and in this very situation the components were produced with the length of 180 cm resulting from a development done in co-operation with the architects. The span quite large compared to the cross section dimension made it possible to install the supports rarely; and by this the conceptional intention, namely aerial appearance was emphasized. The ceramic beams have an end only at places where they meet an opening, and in this way they whip round the building like a never-ending bandage. We feel this effect the strongest at spots where – looking through the lamellas of the corners or the ones running in front of the ground floor or upstairs court – due to the absence of any building facade behind the shades we can see a floating, nearly dematerialized, independent building skin. At these places the contours of the form are dissolved, the building is surrounded by a peculiar vibration.

The significance of our building lies in the fact that it steps over the constraints of Hungarian brick architecture canon with ease, but at the same time keeps relation with it. This house synthesizes, works out design experiments which have already appeared in former works of the architects, presents excitingly abstract and specific detail solutions. Watching the realized building, the opinion about the winner entry, defined in 2007 by the jury of the competition, where one of the members was Tamás Nagy, architect of building ANS II, seems to be true: “It’s harmony, co-existence with the building of ANS II is balanced; in spite of or thanks to the different architectural tools the overall image is natural, the new building closes the previously started story with a sensitive counterpoint. The symbiosis is exemplary, the “age difference” can subtly be perceived – this is its main virtue: starting from the existing structure the new building changed it only to an extend and in a way that every gesture, every decision resulted in a small scaled but value-added change. Here, architecture can be practiced at a high standard only in this way.”[ii]

A new Ferrari Store has opened on Via Berchet, 2 in the very centre of Milan. The new 750 square metre space treats visitors to a completely immersive experience of the Ferrari legend. With four F1 simulators, interactive video walls and numerous multi-sensory positions, the Store was conceived not merely as a shopping destination but also as an entertainment venue.

Located in the historic Palazzo Ricordi, just a few metres from Piazza del Duomo, the Store was designed by architect Massimo Iosa Ghini and extends over three levels. Its design and the use of new generation materials, such as carbon-fibre and anodised aluminum, work hand in glove with leading-edge technologies to deliver a 360-degree entertainment experience. The visual impact is striking too, with 15 beautiful arched windows overlooking three of Milan’s most historic streets: Via Berchet, Via San Raffaele and Via Ugo Foscolo.

The F1 simulators are located on the lower ground floor, here, visitors to the new flagship will experience the exhilaration of the race track. The Milanese Store is the only Ferrari retail outlet to offer this experience. Four simulators inspired by the single-seater race car give the driver an authentic feel of the asphalt and react realistically to the rubbing strips as well as delivering incredibly sharp acceleration and braking. Users can choose from one in five different circuits (Monza, Imola, Mugello, Silverstone and Nürburgring), while HD screens literally wrap 180 degrees around them, delivering ultra-realistic graphics to boot. The simulator zone opens in mid-April.

The men’s collections are located on the ground floor where a 13 square metre video wall interacts with clients using the exclusive Kinect system: the screen picks up visitor movements and gestures, changing its audio and video content on that basis. Also on the ground floor is the high-end Pr1ma Collection, which brilliantly encapsulates the spirit of Ferrari.

The first floor is devoted to the world of Ferrari women with the Fan and Lifestyle apparel and accessories collections. In addition, memorabilia walls display original components from the GT and F1 cars that made Prancing Horse history. Along the way are four integrated multisensory positions designed to accompany and entertain customers as they explore the Store. The children and play areas are also housed on the first floor: two interactive giant screens will keep kids of all ages amused with puzzles, paint functions and other Ferrari-themed content.

This Store was opened as part of Ferrari’s strategic plan to expand its retail network which currently numbers 30 outlets in 14 nations. Over the coming months, another new Store will also open on Via Tomacelli in Rome.

Born in Bologna, Massimo Iosa Ghini studied architecture in Florence and went on to graduate from the Milan Politecnico.

Today he is considered one of the most prominent Italian architects and designers on the international scene. He has been involved in the avant-garde of Italian architecture and design since 1985, when he founded the Bolidism movement and became a part of the Memphis group of Ettore Sottsass.

In 1982 he contributed drawings regularly for several magazines, including Frigidaire, Alter Linus, and Vanity, then collaborating with major fashion brands “Ferré”, “Moschino”, “Krizia”.

In 1989 he began designing for the Japanese lighting company Yamagiwa, and in Osaka received the keys to the city. In the same year he held his first exhibition at the Inspiration Gallery in the Axis Building, Tokyo.

He founded a design company in Tokyo with clients such as Canon, Kokuyo, Omron, Asahi Glass. In 1990, he opened Iosa Ghini Associati, with headquarters in Milan and Bologna.

He is involved with architectural planning, cultural and commercial installations, and retail chains. He is also active in the theoretic field, participating in conventions on architecture and design.

He holds conferences and lectures in various universities, including the Milan Politecnico, the Domus Academy in Milan, La Sapienza University in Rome, The Elisava School in Barcelona, the Design Fachhochschule in Cologne, the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna, and the Alma Graduate School of Bologna; since 2008 has been Adjunct Professor at the Polytechnic of Hong Kong, and from 2012 he is professor at the University of Architecture of Ferrara.

His designs have entered the collections of various international museums and have received important awards, including the Roscoe Award, USA; the Good Design Award by the Chicago Athenaeum; the Red Dot Award and the iF Product Design Award, Germany; and the IAI AWARD Green Design Global Award, Shanghai, China.

Among the most recent major projects are the Ferrari Stores in Europe, the United States, and Asia; a multi-functional residential project in Budapest, various hotels in Europe as well as the airport areas of the Alitalia airline.

Other prominent projects include the Kröpcke Metro Station in Hanover, Germany; the shopping centre The Collection of Miami; the Ferrari Museum Gallery in Maranello, Modena; the Seat Pagine Gialle headquarters in Turin; the Giorgio Morandi House Museum, Bologna, the People Mover transportation infrastructure project in Bologna, and the IBM Software Executive Briefing Center, Rome.

An entire anthology to his 30-years professional career, from the beginning to the sustainable present, has been dedicated by the Triennale di Milano, the most important institution of Italian design, in 2013, and by the Bologna Modern Art Museum, MAMbo in 2014.

Currently several projects are in progress in the Russian Federation in Moscow, in the United States in New York and Miami, and in London.

BOSTON, December 5, 2014 — Safdie Architects has been appointed to design a major new addition to Singapore Changi Airport, which is the sixth busiest international airport in the world, handling more than 53.7 million passengers in 2013. The new development, also known as Jewel Changi Airport (Jewel), will enhance Changi Airport’s position as a major aviation hub, integrating airport facilities with shopping, entertainment, and leisure activity to create a public gathering space for Singaporeans and international travelers and establish a new model for airports as discrete destinations.

Strategically located at the heart of Changi Airport, Jewel is envisioned as a world-class lifestyle destination that will enable the Changi air hub to engage passengers and strongly boost Singapore’s appeal as a stopover location. To ensure a seamless flow of movement for passengers and visitors, Jewel will be connected to Changi’s Terminal 1 (T1) through its expanded Arrival Meeters and Greeters Hall, and linked to Terminals 2 and 3 by pedestrian bridges.

Housed under a soaring glass dome, Jewel will encompass a total gross floor area of approximately 134,000 square meters (1.4 million square feet) and feature an expansive garden, cabin hotel, restaurants, retail, and attractions in addition to its facilities for airport operations. The two centerpieces of the project are an indoor landscape of trees, palms, and ferns with walking trails, referred to as the Forest Valley, and the 40-meter-tall waterfall that will cascade from an oculus at the top of the glass dome, titled the Rain Vortex.

“This project redefines and reinvents what airports are all about. The new paradigm represented by Jewel Changi Airport is to create a diverse and meaningful meeting place that serves as a gateway to the city and country, complementing commerce and services with attractions and gardens for passengers, airport employees, and the city at large,” said architect Moshe Safdie. “Our goal was to bring together the duality of a vibrant marketplace and a great urban park side-by-side in a singular and immersive experience. The component of the traditional mall is combined with the experience of nature, culture, education, and recreation, aiming to provide an uplifting experience. By drawing both visitors and local residents alike, we aim to create a place where the people of Singapore interact with the people of the world.”

Jewel evokes Singapore’s unique identity as a “City in a Garden,” recalling the tradition of metropolitan centers with great parks. The route to Jewel on the main transportation roadway to Changi Airport is lined with large canopy trees and lush greenery, connecting the green exterior experience with that of the gardens on the interior. Safdie Architects has designed and realized two international travel centers prior to Jewel: Israel’s principal gateway, Ben Gurion International Airport, in 2004 and Terminal 1 at Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada, in 2007, which have helped to shape the vision for Jewel as a dynamic destination.

Design

The curved geometry of the building creates a natural location for the Rain Vortex and easily accommodates connections from the garden center to the surrounding terminal buildings. This shape also provides inherent structural strength to the glass and steel dome facade, allowing the framework to be delicate in the tradition of glass conservatories, while also enhancing the immersive experience of the gardens within. The arching glass roof is supported by a series of tree-like structural columns that ring the inside edge of the roof garden and the gathering space at the top level of the development. The roof garden, known as the Canopy Park, has a series of garden-oriented attractions designed in conjunction with PWP Landscape Architecture (Berkeley, California), the landscape consultant for the project. The suspended roof arches over the covered atrium, which is connected at multiple levels to the surrounding retail floors.

At the heart of the project is a dramatic Rain Vortex that cascades from the oculus down to the center of the atrium. At night, this will become the backdrop for a light and sound show, which will be visible from the dining terraces that face into the garden center. Additionally, rainwater will be funneled into the waterfall and harvested for reuse. This unprecedented integration of leisure activities, natural amenities, and airport facilities represents an innovative approach to travel and the experience of these discrete activities.

Construction is expected to begin by the end of 2014, and Jewel is scheduled for completion at the end of 2018.

Safdie Architects in Singapore

Safdie Architects has a long history of work in Singapore and has had a profound impact on the nation’s evolving urban design over the past two decades. The firm’s most recently completed project there is Marina Bay Sands—a high-density, mixed-use integrated resort that has become an iconic landmark of Singapore since its opening in 2011. The ten million sq. ft. district anchors the Singapore waterfront and forms a gateway to the city. Safdie Architects is also currently at work on the Sky Habitat Residential Development—a 38-story housing complex representative of high-density, high-rise, upper-middle-income, urban housing that is in great demand in Singapore and across Asia. Previous projects in Singapore include the Cairnhill Road Condominiums completed in 2003 and the Ardmore Habitat Condominiums completed in 1985.

In addition to their work together on the Sky Habitat project in Singapore, Safdie Architects and CapitaLand are collaborating on a ten million sq. ft. mixed-use project in Chongqing, China, as well as a large-scale retail development hub in Shanghai’s old Luwan district.

Moshe Safdie is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author who embraces a comprehensive and humane design philosophy. In keeping with a philosophical approach that Safdie has applied around the world for more than four decades, the design of each of his projects is responsive to local historic, cultural, and environmental contexts and grows out of a vision of the way it can affect the lives of the individuals for whom the buildings and public spaces are created. The firm has designed and realized a wide range of projects around the world, including cultural, civic, and educational institutions; mixed-use urban centers and airports; and master plans for existing neighborhoods and entirely new cities, many of which have become landmarks in their communities.

Notable projects include Habitat ’67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort and ArtScience Museum in Singapore; the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles; and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri. Safdie Architects is based in Boston with offices in Toronto, Jerusalem, Singapore, and Shanghai.

A flight traffic radar for Orly airport will be built in a new location chosen to provide the best control service in a high traffic airspace while respecting security requirements. The Paris-Saclay redevelopment project and the ban on objects over 174 metres high within a 5 km radius means the current radar must be demolished.

Following a design and construction consultation for the future flight radar, the Paris-Saclay Public Establishment chose the Barthélémy-Griño architects group in partnership with the T/E/S/S engineering consultant, MTC and Rabot Dutilleul. The aim is to develop a structure which meets the requirements of the redevelopment project and its location in the midst of the new École Polytechnique neighbourhood. This must be achieved on the regional scale of the Saclay Plateau, and the Chevreuse Valley, the urban scale of the campus and the human scale closer to the central strip.

Standing 65 metres above the plateau, this monumental radar tower will become a real beacon which must integrate the landscape on several scales: the regional scale of the Saclay Plateau, and the Chevreuse Valley, the urban scale of the campus and the human scale closer to the central strip.

SIMPLE AND COMPACT

The tower is made up of a single, streamlined volume: a cylinder 57 m in height. It is 13.4 m in diameter from the base to the summit. These dimensions are due to the structural rigidity required to limit distortions to the radar in high winds. The simplicity of form is enhanced by the choice of a single material: concrete. The openwork walls lend life and lightness to the cylinder, allowing glimpses of light and sky to come through.

All the functional programme components are grouped around the tower, with only the radar dome separate from it. This compact quality helps define the surrounding spaces. The tower is thus delicately encompassed by a concrete pavement and seems to emerge naturally from the ground.

The interior of the volume is empty, apart from technical premises which are housed on the first two floors. 28 concrete posts divide the other levels. The superposition of these posts, spaced regularly around each platform, but completely different in height, produces a pattern which captures and reflects the light and the sun in a variety of ways.

The tower appears in movement on approaching the campus, from the raised metro line or the roads and cycle lanes. The image of the tower is transformed depending on the angle of approach. Variations in the pillar sections affect the transparency of the cylinder, transforming it, in the different lights of day, into a fantastic kaleidoscope.

The project presents itself as a contemporary version of a monumental – crafted column, imposing and immaterial. A column with 308 openings which, in the lower sections, give onto variations in the Saclay Plateau landscape and, in the upper sections, the ever-changing picture of the sky. It cuts a wise, humble and powerful figure, anchoring a crucial and strategic area of Greater Paris.

Provencher_Roy Architectes has signed its name to the restoration and expansion of the Ritz-Carlton Montreal, one of the architectural heritage gems in Quebec’s largest city.

“The project involved a major contemporary updating of a heritage building,” noted Claude Provencher, senior partner in Provencher_Roy. “It was quite a challenge to provide the hundred-year-old hotel with a new face without altering its personality. And today, we are proud that we were able to help return the ‘Great Lady’ to its former glory and ensure that it will be with us for many years to come.”

Inaugurated in 1912, the Ritz-Carlton is the only great luxury hotel in Montreal to have survived to the present day without changing vocation. Famous for its façades and its elegant Adam-style interiors, the hotel is one of the gems of Montreal architecture. Yet, despite its undeniable qualities, the Ritz-Carlton no longer responded to touristic demand, which has been undergoing profound changes over the last number of years.

The hotel’s management wished to make the modifications needed to make the hotel profitable. The project, with a total area of 43,000 m2, included renovation of the historic hotel’s 130 original rooms and its public spaces, as well as a 12,500 m2 expansion to create 45 luxury condominiums.

The architects had to design this wing for the only space still available on the site: along the building’s west façade, above a garage dating from the 1930s. A two-storey volume was also to be added on the roof of the historic building. “It is very tricky to alter an existing structure,” explained Martin Vincent, project manager at Provencher_Roy. “We had to reinforce that structure and come up with very imaginative ways to integrate the new electro-mechanical systems.”

A pool and gym, accessible to both hotel guests and new residents, had to be installed at roof level, and installation of a new spa was planned for the basement of the old hotel.

One of the major challenges of the project was to integrate the new residential wing without either mimicking or over shadowing the unique character of the existing building. Following the inspiration of architects such as Pei (the pyramid at the Louvre) and Foster (the cupola on the Reichstag), Provencher_Roy opted for a glass-and-steel envelope that evokes the geometry and rhythm of the 1912 façade, while making an outstanding and resolutely contemporary statement. Similarly, the two new stories were built set back from the façade to preserve the architectural lines of the cornice.

“Our credo was to respect the identity of this remarkable building while imagining a way to expand it that would enhance its value,” confirmed the project’s architects, Claude Provencher and Eugenio Carelli. “The new wing plays on depths by wrapping itself in an elegantly composed envelope. It is through the quality of detail in the added structures that we wanted to highlight the quality of the original façade.”

The architects exploited the curtain-wall of the new wing to design apartments whose main features are space and light.In the old part of the hotel, the rooms were designed to subtly accentuate their private nature. On the other hand, the architects profited from the volumes of the new glass-and-steel structure to design living spaces that open onto each other (living, dining, kitchen areas) and offer a spectacular view of Montreal. Loggias of exceptional size for their type augment the apartments’ area and create permeability between exterior and interior spaces.

“The final result was simply delightful for us,”stated Andrew Torriani, CEO of the Ritz-Carlton Montreal. “The hotel is truly once again the ‘Great Lady of Sherbrooke Street.’ Our clients and employees have only great things to say about it. In fact, these comments are made about both the hotel and the residences.”

Provencher_Roy, a predominant player in urban architecture in Canada, is a multidisciplinary firm offering services in architecture, architectural planning, urban design and urban planning, interior design, and sustainable development. The firm brings together more than 150 passionate professionals working in all areas of the built environment in Canada and abroad. Its portfolio includes remarkable accomplishments in the institutional, science, transportation, and educational sectors, as well as mixed-use buildings combining offices, hotels, and retail. Over the years, Provencher_Roy has received more than 65 awards and distinctions recognizing the excellence of its projects in Quebec, Canada, and abroad.

The innovative and experienced team at Provencher_Roy is highly respected for its research procedures, and can harmoniously blend the well-being of users and staff while addressing the many technical and financial requirements involved in each project. For over thirty years, the group’s innovative approach has been to anticipate the impact of architectural conception and design in time and space, emphasizing the concept of openness and a holistic view of a gesture rooted in modernity, which forms an integral part of urban landscapes.

The values of Provencher_Roy are reflected in projects such as the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History, the Montreal World Trade Centre, the expansion of Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport in Montreal, the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa, the Ritz-Carlton in Montreal, the conversion of the Erskine & American Church into the new Canadian art pavilion for the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, and the J.-A.-De Sève Pavilion at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

The firm is also a member of the exclusive club of Canadian architectural firms with projects built abroad (Canadian embassy in Morocco; Diamond Peninsula Hotel in Dongguan, China; the race course gardens in Karachi, Pakistan; and MediCity, an ultramodern institute of integrated medical sciences and holistic therapy in Gurgaon, India).

The winners of the invited international competiton for the „Nobel Quran Oasis“ have been announced in Madinah. Gerber Architekten convinced the jury with their landscape focused design and share the second prize with Ricardo Bofill-Taller de Arquitectura. A first prize was not awarded and the third prize was given to gmp. Zaha Hadid and Arata Isozaki & Associates both received a commendation.

The new museum for the Quran, located in the holy city of Al Madinah al Munawarah, makes a contrast to the barren volvanic landscape with its verdant centre – like a modern oasis. Embedded in a Wadi, the design exploits the topography of this dried-up stream and allows it to be re-experienced as a newly-formed oasis. The roof of the „Nobel Quran Oasis“ will be constructed as a three dimensional sculpture of simple geometric figures reminiscent of traditional Islamic ornamentation and will be entirely covered with gold photovoltaic elements. The landscape design refers to the classical gardens of the Arab world and illustrates central elements of Quran teaching.

Madinah al-Munawarah, also known as the radiant city, is after Makkah the most important city for pilgrims of the Islamic faith. The site of around 200,000 m² intended for the „Nobel Quran Oasis“ is located to the north-east of the city centre, about 12 km from the Prophet’s mosque and in the immediate vicinity of the Prince Muhammad ibn Abdul Aziz airport. The surrounding area consists of a volcaniclandscape and the dried up Wadi. Using this topography as a starting point, Gerber Architekten have developed a verdant cultural oasis at it‘s centre.

The shape of the building is derived from traditional Islamic ornamentation. Simple geometric figures are combined in concentric rings to create a sculptural unity.

The museum will be accessed via two terraced entrance areas at each end of the former Wadi. The visitor enters the underground central plaza, a foyer which extends over all levels as an atrium, receiving natural daylight through the perforated roof.

The heart of the building will be the exhibition space in the first floor. It is based on five cores, the five pillars of islam (Shahada, Salat, Zakat, Sawm und Hajj). The column-free exhibition spaces are organized into three interactive routes, which interpret the history of Islamic culture and the Quran. The dramatic golden roof landscape produces a variety of lighting atmospheres inside the exhibition areas. Direct, indirect and filtered light is precisely deployed and the atmosphere is intensified by changing ceiling heights.

A conference centre for trade fairs, a library, an auditorium, seminary rooms, a mediatheque and educational area are placed on two levels around the plaza. Patio courtyards with different themes are placed between the different areas, to function not only as botanical gardens but also to inform the different target groups of visitors about plants in Quran teaching.

The project “Kinderstad” (Dutch for “children’s city”) emanated from the Young Architects Competition of the Dutch National Board of Architects (BNA) together with the Ronald McDonald Children’s Foundation (Kinderfonds) in 2003. SPONGE ARCHITECTS & Rupali-Gupta in cooperation with IOU ARCHITECTURE (Björn van Rheenen, Rupali Gupta and Roland Pouw) won the first prize and received at the same time the appointment to realize the winning design for both the exterior and interior work including the management of the project. “Kinderstad” is the first project among the projects presented to the BNA Young Architects Competition that has actually been realized and implemented. The similarity between the result and the competition design is striking. During the process of the implementation almost all ideas and designs have been adopted.

The goal of “Kinderstad” is to extract the sick child, its family and friends from the unpleasant surrounding of a hospital and to enable an encounter in a much better atmosphere. This new specialised type of health care for sick children gives the visitors the chance to forget for a moment that the child is sick and to facilitate the normal development of the young patients (between 4 and 18 years old) despite the treatments; it has a positive influence on the patients’ recovery. “Kinderstad” is attached to the children’s ward on the 9th floor in the eastern wing of the Medical Centre of Amsterdam Free University (VU Amsterdam).

“Kinderstad” is situated on the roof of the eastern wing of the Medical Centre of Amsterdam Free University (VU Amsterdam). The 9th and 10th floors compose an adornment made of glass and titanium. The 9th floor stands back from the existing brick-lined building of the eastern wing and from the 10th floor. Due to this gap and the overhanging of the10th floor, one gets the impression that “Kinderstad” is hovering like a cloud above the hospital. At the same time the use of glass and titanium sets a visual contrast between the seemingly light superstructure and the heavy brick-lined fundament. The facade consists for the most part of glass.

For some parts, the facade is closed with titanium behind the glass. Special tiles of three different kinds of titanium have been produced for this project; it’s the first time it has been used in the Netherlands (baked with crystals, 15x15cm). The tiling has been assembled in different angles of inclination on the facade and under the exterior ceiling with the effect of reflecting the light in different colours for each moment of the day. In combination with the reflection of the glass in front of the tiling it creates a fascinating effect with the light, the surroundings and the building. It becomes absorbed in its natural environment: the constantly changing Dutch skies.

The titanium creates a layer of protection against corrosion. This layer makes sure that scratches or light damages repair themselves and that the material does not develop patina like other metals. As a result the titanium is reflecting the light permanently, unlike other metals. With their playful prints of natural materials the boxes in the facade that stretch from the inside of the building through the glass facade to the outside give an impression of the thematic design of the interior and wear away the border between interior and exterior. The combination of the strict lines, the richness of the 20.000 titanium tiles and the colorful boxes that stick out gives the facade a playful look while establishing a contrast to the rather uninspired facades of the surrounding office buildings.

The project was nominated for the architectural facade competition “Architectuurprijs GevelTotaal 2008”. From the jury’s report: “The titanium tiles have been used in a clever way that underlines how exciting the irregularity of the material is. Glass and titanium are giving fascinating reflections. Beautiful details.”

The concept invites one to linger in the open space of the widespread playground. On the playground one can find different calm rooms with different specific atmospheres and functions. The concept plays with the contrast of openness and closeness, of encounter and withdrawal.

The basic idea of the concept of “Kinderstad” is to get the children in contact with the outside, with nature. This idea was realized by the use of natural materials (wood, stone and photo prints), a completely open facade and big roof windows that allow natural light to come in while giving the impression that 35m above you the sky and the weather are within your grasp. Every detail of the design is connected to this concept in a very consequent way. “Kinderstad” is really a little city with a big playground, little houses, streets, alleys and streetlights.

The big central staircase made of wood connects the two levels fluently and can be used as theatre stage or movie theatre. Several rooms, different in size and atmosphere, are located as boxes in the open space. These boxes are covered with enlarged printed motives of nature (moss, tree trunks, honeycombs, water drops and rocks) and stick through the facade as to wear away the border between interior and exterior. The boxes are covered with prints of these materials as the use of real natural material was not possible for reasons of hygiene.

The floor, ceiling and a big wall of “Kinderstad” are covered with wood. The ceiling on the 10th floor is a special ceiling for heating and cooling, made of plates of steal that are painted in the style of wood. On the 9th floor, the neighboring strips of the roof and an outside terrace are covered with artificial grass.

The fading border between interior and exterior, and the references to nature through material, light and a phenomenal view of the sky, the city of Amsterdam and the forest, convey the sensation of “being out and about”.

The interior has been designed partly by the architects and partly by students of the Rietveld Academy or sponsors, under supervision of the architects. There is a lot to discover and experience in “Kinderstad”:

An 8-meter long tunnel serves as the entrance. This tunnel forms the crossing from the hospital to the imaginary world of “Kinderstad”. The shape of the tunnel changes its profile from rectangular to round. The LED lighting behind the semi-transparent plastic allows the creation of different atmospheres corresponding to the four seasons of the year. Furthermore, one can find a theatre, a DJ workstation with disco music by Radio 538 and a TV workstation of Endemol. From the Schiphol airport tower with parts of a rebuilt airplane with seats and cockpit you have a view till the airport and you can follow the landing of airplanes with real sound effects. The child can also dress up as a pilot or stewardess.

Next to it, a little football field sponsored by Ajax is to be found, with artificial grass, white lines and goals, looking out on the Amsterdam Arena football stadium. Here, the children can watch live football training sessions and games on a big screen, admire shirts and trophies and play tabletop football.

A bit further down one encounters one half of a racecar by Spyker with a big screen instead of the front window. In this car, the visitor can participate in a virtual race overlooking the real highway next to the “Kinderstad”.

In the KPN Wizzkids Corner, the children can use the internet, play virtual games and watch little movies. There is also a reader’s corner where they can read books in a calm atmosphere. Finally, there is a slide, which the children can use to slide down from the 10th to the 9th floor.

Last but not least, there is a living room area with a calm atmosphere for the parents who want to catch their breath for a moment.

Extensive day light, views, contact and association with nature, natural materials, game and relaxation are important elements to positively influence the process of recovery of a sick child. The attention of the visitor is channeled away from the hospital towards the exterior; the sickness gets left behind and is forgotten. Even the needs of children in wheelchairs and beds have been implemented in this concept: they are able to use all the facilities.